TYLER, Texas — Editor's Note: The above video was published in November 2022.
The Tyler Pounds Regional Airport is among roughly 90 airports where the Federal Aviation Administration will host runway safety meetings.
In an announcement, the FAA said the meetings will be held between now and the end of September.
“Sharing information is critical to improving safety,” said Tim Arel, chief operating officer of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization. “These meetings, along with other efforts, will help us achieve our goal of zero close calls.”
In these meetings, airport stakeholders work together to identify unique risks to surface safety at that airport and make plans to reduce or eliminate those risks. Representatives from the FAA’s air traffic organization, airlines, pilots, airport vehicle drivers and others will participate.
Major airports that are having these meetings soon include Ronald Reagan Washington National, La Guardia New York, Dallas-Fort Worth International, Cleveland Hopkins International, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, Reno/Tahoe International and Birmingham Shuttlesworth International.
According to the FAA, the meetings are held annually at each airport with a control tower and these are the primary forum for pinpointing and addressing airport-specific risk in the surface environment.
The aim of the meeting is to create a Runway Safety Action Plan, where stakeholders document and agree on specific actions to improve surface safety, the FAA said.
The federal agency issued a Safety Call to Action in February after a string of incidents, which led to a Safety Summit in March and a series of safety initiatives. The summit caused the FAA to commit to strive for zero serious close calls.